A bold strategy from Stefano Coletti saw him take Sprint Race victory at Hockenheim

Second place for Nasr sees him cut championship gap to Palmer

By William Esler

Last Updated: 20/07/14 11:35am

Highlights of the GP2 Sprint Race from Hockenheim.

Highlights of the GP2 Sprint Race from Hockenheim.

A bold strategy from Stefano Coletti saw him take victory in the Sprint Race at Hockenheim as GP2 served up another thriller.

The skies opened just ten minutes ahead of the race soaking the German circuit and leading to a mix of tyre choices on the grid.

Coletti opted to start on slick tyres from fifth on the grid despite the track being treacherous in places, as did championship contenders Felipe Nasr in fourth and Johnny Cecotto in second, whilst sixth-placed Jolyon Palmer opted for the wets.

The grooved Pirellis looked to be the wise chose after Julian Leal spun on the formation lap before the slick-shod runners were jumped at the start as they struggled for grip off the line. Indeed for Cecotto the decision proved to be a major blow to his title hopes as he was involved in a first corner accident and retired after only five laps.

Coletti and Nasr would make the strategy work for them, however, and progressed through the field as the track dried out, eventually finding themselves in a battle for the lead with ten laps remaining.

The pair traded faster sector times, but no matter what the Brazilian threw at the Racing Engineering driver, the Monegasque had an answer to take his first win in over a year.

Second place was enough for Nasr to close the gap at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to Palmer to 41 points after the Briton dropped to sixth in the closing laps. The DAMS driver does maintain his record, however, of scoring points at every race in 2014.

Stoffel Vandoorne completed the podium in third place to score points on a Sunday for the first time in GP2, but will have been left rueing another win that got away having lead for much of the race after starting on wet tyres before timing his switch to slicks perfectly as the Safety Car was deployed for a second time.

The next rounds of the GP2 Series take place in Hungary on July 25-27 and you can see all the action live on Sky Sports F1.